Goldfish used to test water at G20 summit

Animal rights activists are up in arms about security
measures at the recent G20 economy summit, where the South Korean
hosts used goldfish to
test for water purity.

Six fish were placed in tanks beneath the venue in Seoul, to make sure the
water was pure and free from water-borne contaminants for the
summit's important guests. Attending G20 members included British
Prime Minister David
Cameron and United States President Barack Obama.

If the fish swam about the water happily, the world leaders
would be safe to sip on the liquid. But if the house pets keeled
over, the security team would know that the water was unsafe to
drink. The center uses recycled water, as part of a cost-cutting
and eco-friendly
policy, saving an average annual bill of 360 million won
(£200,000).

But while organisers at the convention center say the fish
symbolise that eco-friendly direction, animal rights group PETA
doesn't agree. Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of the
organisation for the ethical treatment of animals, said in an open letter to the exhibition centre, "protecting world leaders
is very serious, but so is protecting animals who feel pain just as
people do."

"There are a variety of modern scientific methods that would
better protect world leaders and keep fish from enduring agonizing
deaths from contaminated water," Reiman says, before pointing to
research out of Scotland that found the pain receptors in fish are strikingly similar to those of
mammals.

But the COEX exhibition centre has decided to ignore Reiman's
plea, and told the Wall Street Journal that the recycled water
has already gone through testing. "We're confident the goldfish
won't die," said the official, "So we'll continue with the
plan."